Thousands of archaeological artifacts found in Koochiching County, some which are more than 2,000 years old, have been returned to the Bois Forte Band of Chippewa from the Minnesota Historical Society.
“The reason for the return was not the types of artifacts in the collection, it was a matter of ownership,” said Pat Emerson, head of archaeology at the Minnesota Historical Society.
According to Emerson, the artifacts came from a village site on the east shore of Nett Lake, right on the Koochiching-St. Louis County line. They were excavated by Lloyd Wilford, an archaeologist who taught at the University of Minnesota for many years. Every summer from the 1930s to the 1950s, Wilford would take students out to excavate one or more archaeological sites in Minnesota, Emerson said. In July of 1948, they went to Nett Lake Village and spent two weeks excavating. Afterwards, the artifacts were taken to the university where they were cataloged and stored with other archaeological materials.
“In 1999, the University of Minnesota turned their Minnesota archaeological collections over to MHS,” Emerson told The Journal. “In 2000, the collections, which are stored in over 1,400 boxes, were moved to the MHS Archaeology Department facility in St. Paul and placed in storage there.”
Among those boxes, the archaeologist said the collection includes fragments of ceramic vessels, stone tools, copper artifacts, animal bone and some historic-period artifacts such as metal buttons and nails.
When the Bois Forte band became aware that MHS held a collection excavated from tribal land, Emerson notes the group requested that the society return the artifacts to them. On July 16, after 64 years of being moved from their home, the artifacts were returned.
“We could find no documentation that Lloyd Wilford had requested permission to take the artifacts, from either the Bois Forte band or the Bureau of Indian Affairs,” Emerson said. “Because we had no evidence that Wilford had permission to take the artifacts, it was clear that they belonged to the band and their request should be honored.”
She added that both Bois Forte and MHS officials agreed that since the artifacts came from tribal land, they are the property of Bois Forte, and that the process of returning the artifacts was very cooperative and not at all contentious.
Bill Latady, curator at the Bois Fort Heritage Museum, said he was pleased to have the artifacts returned and looks forward to creating and exhibit for the items.
“My plan is to go through the artifacts and select which ones will work for an exhibit,” he said.
Although he doesn’t have any concrete plans just one week after the artifacts were returned, Latady admits he has already started the process of going through boxes and is already thinking of ideas as to how he would like the items displayed at the museum located on Lake Vermilion.
“I’ve been thinking about what I would want for awhile, but actually having the artifacts makes a big difference,” he said. “These items are a huge part of this band’s history.”
Emerson said she was glad to have the artifacts returned and added that the Bois Forte band are committed to caring for all of these objects, “in order to preserve, interpret and teach people about the history of Bois Forte.”
“MHS was pleased to be able to work with the band to make the return of these artifacts a reality.”
